Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson has revealed in a recent interview that material for an 11th studio album is being written.

"It won’t be a step back, but it will be different. Maybe more intense in a way. You’ll have to wait and see. I was in the studio today and put down my solos and I was very happy about it. The song I heard that Mikael [Åkerfeldt] wrote today sounds very cool. I think that’s all I can say at this point! I’m sorry." says Fredrik.

Well the point is:
Making another Death Metal meets 70's prog simply won't work out.
So my guess: Something like... atmospheric black metal just with not a lot of "black metal" - if you know what I mean

Heritage was too monotonous and pseudo-experimental. It was like... "Hey, let's reboot old prog and call ourselves experimental geniuses". Really disappointing album and I'm not very hopeful towards this release.

I saw an interview where Åkerfeldt said that they will be continuing down the Heritage sound. This "intense" statement was only made because they know that Heritage wasn't popular among fans. So basically fuck the fans.

"metal is ded wen r u all gon realize dis" when they get past the adolescent stage of their lives. lets be real, how many successful, sociable people do you know that are metal heads? they either grow out of it and make something of themselves or they remain loner shitheads with some other metal head acquaintances that go m/ for the sake of keeping up their faggotry.

"metal is ded wen r u all gon realize dis" when they get past the adolescent stage of their lives.
lets be real, how many successful, sociable people do you know that are metal heads? they either grow
out of it and make something of themselves or they remain loner shitheads with some other metal head
acquaintances that go m/ for the sake of keeping up their faggotry.

I know plenty of successful metal fans, and know of a few too. There's a UK member of Parliament who
tried to wear an Iron Maiden shirt to the House of Commons once.

If I'm honest, I really don't care which musical direction the band head in. None of their albums bar 'Deliverance' have disappointed me in any way, so I'm open to anything Akerfeldt and co. throw at me.

"I feel like bands should change their band names when they do a huge genre shift just so they dont fuck up their catalog."

Nah Opeths a prog band at heart, and prog bands have tendencies to shift genres and alter their sound, it's a part of the character of the band so they definitely shouldn't change their name. It's an odd argument btw.

When a band retires I would imagine they would want to look at their catalogue and be happy that they experimented as opposed to sticking to a specific type of sound without much experimentation.

Experimentation is fine and dandy when it's, you know, good. Heritage wasn't good experimentation - it was sloppy, haphazard songwriting with copious amounts of wank. Hopefully the new album will rule, though.

There were odd transitions here and there, as there were on Watershed, but otherwise it was pretty good. There wasn't really much experimentation with weird sounds, etc. Opeth has always had technical riffage, it was business as usual when it came to the "wank" part. The new album should be better hopefully

Am I the only one who actually liked Heritage? I mean sure, Opeth is mainly technical death metal, but bands evolve overtime, and that's what happened with these guys. They figured that they wanted to take a break from creating death metal, and that was their decision to transition to progressive rock. Besides, Mikael clearly said that it might be more intense, so classic Opeth fans shouldn't get their hopes down.

a bad d should change their name when they go in a different direction...what? makes me wonder how many name changes Ulver should've had. Heritage was a welcome change and an excellent prog album, and I for one hope they further progress their sound.

I can't stand how people detest the idea that hey, maybe a musician/band can play other things! Maybe they can fuck up sometimes, too! People aren't flat characters, nor are they facades for you to entertain yourself.

And Heritage wasn't that fucking bad. Not the best thing ever, but don't you think you are exaggerating a little?

One of my all time favorite bands. My Arms Your Hearse, Morningrise, Still Life and especially Blackwater Park are such incredible albums. With each following release my interest in the band was diminished. I don't think I've ever made it through the entire Heritage album. I have it, but didn't dig what I heard.

It's cool that they have evolved. I can't say that I'd want to play the same kind of stuff forever, either. But prog rock aint my thing. I'll always love Opeth, but I've lost interest in what they're doing...at least, that's how I feel now.

This is good news. I'd like to see them return to balancing both their heavy and prog side in this new album. "The Devil's Orchard" had a good sound, in the way that it embraced a more traditional and layered progressive sound, yet still managed to sound like a metal song- I'd like to see them explore that style more.

But something like a softer Still Life or Ghost Reveries would be great as well, which I get the feeling will be the case with this new album as I've read that Mikael has grown 'tired' of extreme metal. But I could be wrong, I haven't really kept up with Mikael's plans.

Yeah the best thing about being a prog/experimental band is that genre shifts come to be expected so the transitions not so much of a big deal when they happen. I also agree on the fact it's good to be a diverse musician. I try to keep in several styles of music atm with mixed results but hey at least I'm giving them a go and seeing where my strong points are.

Mikael has been saying he was tired of extreme metal back in the deliverance/damnation days and continued to release great albums, so im sure if he wants to make metal again he could think of some new ideas.

Nah Opeths a prog band at heart, and prog bands have tendencies to shift genres and alter their sound, it's a part of the character of the band so they definitely shouldn't change their name. It's an odd argument btw.

An odd argument indeed however, don't you think that death metal would also be a main staple in their hearts considering they were amazing with manipulating it? It's just an opinion and tbqh, all they're doing with the prog genre is resurfacing 70s british prog bands and jizzing all over them. I don't find that to be particularly creative, hence why I think they should stick to what they do best and leave albums such as Heritage as goof-off side projects.

"don't you think that death metal would also be a main staple in their hearts considering they were
amazing with manipulating it?"

Death metal would, and has been a main staple for 90% of the bands career, and so having done that
for so many years would be exhausting I imagine, especially for musicians whose influences are
diverse. Plus Mikaels has said that he's been a fan of prog for a very long time as well, so I that
has also been a part of his writing for a while. I get tired of listening to one genre of music
after a while, I can only imagine what someone who has written that style for so many years
continuously will go through. If Mikael had side projects to let out his other ideas then he'd
probably stick with the traditional writing style for Opeth.

I hear you on the ripping off of 70s prog but in comparison to Opeths last few albums its
refreshing. Also even if a band does copy an old era of music, if they do it well the results can
still be interesting.

Great news, i wouldnt mind if it sounds like Watershed, i lked that one. Heritage wasnt that bad, it was good and that's it. Still their worst album so they need to make up with this one. I want GROWLS, btw.

"I hear you on the ripping off of 70s prog but in comparison to Opeths last few albums its refreshing. Also even if a band does copy an old era of music, if they do it well the results can still be interesting"

Agreed.

Also I'm having trouble understanding why people think that ripping off a particular genre/era of music is any worse than going through the motions of playing a style that they've pretty much exhausted themselves.

I don't buy the whole they're ripping off prog argument. why isn't the same argument used for bands who play osdm for example...or even for bands like Beardfish who play pretty much the same style of music as found on Heritage. are they ripping off prog too? or do they, like Opeth on Heritage provide a slightly different take on the genre?

The album is called "Heritage" for god's sake, it's a homage to the band's influences. If you think it sounds like it was ripped straight from the 70s as a result then obviously the band did something right, guh!

"The album is called "Heritage" for god's sake, it's a homage to the band's influences. If you think it sounds like it was ripped straight from the 70s as a result then obviously the band did something right, guh!"

Exactly, couldn't agree more.

Either way I'm excited about anything Opeth puts out since they do death metal and whatnot but they always change it up with awesome cleans sections and beautiful melodies. Overall they've done great with everything they've released, including Heritage.

"Also I'm having trouble understanding why people think that ripping off a particular genre/era of music is any worse than going through the motions of playing a style that they've pretty much exhausted themselves"

Exactly. Heritage is enjoyable, not extremely daring but it is a fun listen, and thats what a lot of modern bands are missing out on. Mikaels cleans on Heritage are incredible, trve emotions.

I've randomly started seriously digging Blackwater Park the last couple of days actually. The mix of prog and death metal in that album is the best thing about Opeth and even though the clean parts often outshone the growls I still hope they can go back to something like that style. Dark, heavy, and melancholic. But it's up to them. Mikael's shown he's in a state of major experimentation atm with recent releases like Heritage and Storm Corrosion, although he left Bloodbath which could mean either he's phasing out the death metal from his music, or he's going to be reintegrating it into Opeth's sound and simply doesn't have time for Bloodbath anymore.

Exceptions to the rule. That was a fairly unique piece of music and tied in nicely to Deliverance. They always had that as part of their sound and they just went a little overboard with it. Heritage is a straight up rip-off from better bands. Sure, you can argue they began their whole heavy 70s prog influence within the last few albums but I feel they aren't Opeth anymore, more like a cover band.

I'd like this to be a stronger heritage. Unless you're an Opeth fanboy, it's hard to consider Heritage as something that could rival MAYH, or Still Life. If they make a progressive album (and not rip off Camel) that sounds modern then I think they will blow the minds of everyone. Forward thinking is required because in a way, I can say where Base is coming from with his comment, even if the year was wrong.

Akerfeldt says one song called "Goblin" colds like the band Goblin as a tribute. Another is a 70s-sounding ballad with a string vocal. "It doesn't have any super-technical riffs, it's just a strong vocal melody and a pretty sad-sounding song," he says.

The third new song harks back to Opeth's early style. "I was just lumping riffs on top of each other, arrangements, and it's all over the place. I've kind of outgrown that style of writing, because that's the way I used to write on the first, say, two records. And I was like, I have to stop myself here and arrange this a little bit. But then I was, like, 'Why?' OK, I'm just gonna let this song be the schizophrenic, kind of, it-doesn't-make-much-sense-but-I-kind-of-like-it-type song. So it's really long."